3 men hospitalized after 3-truck collision in Hancock

Bill Trotter | BDN

Bill Trotter | BDN

A 1996 GMC pickup truck sits bent and empty by the side of Route 1 in Hancock on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, after it was involved in the three-truck collision on the road around 1:15 p.m. All three men who were in the truck were transported by ambulance to an Ellsworth hospital with injuries that were not life threatening.

HANCOCK, Maine — Three men were hurt Thursday afternoon in a collision of three trucks on Route 1 in Hancock, according to Maine State Police, but none of the injuries is believed to be life-threatening.

The accident occurred around 1:15 p.m. when an eastbound 2005 Ford pickup truck slowed to turn right into a driveway at Sierra Signs, according to Mane State Police Trooper Gregory Roy. A 1996 GMC pickup truck slowed behind the turning vehicle and then was rear-ended by an eastbound Fraser Fuels heating oil delivery truck. The oil truck pushed the GMC into the westbound lane and then struck the left rear corner of the Ford truck that had slowed to turn into the driveway, the trooper said.

The GMC driver, Darius Patrick, 45, of Surry, was taken by ambulance to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth, as were his two passengers — Martin Larsen, 35, and Shaun Poliquin, 40, both of Bucksport. The driver of the Fraser Fuel truck, Darren Fraser, 27, of Addison, and the driver of the Ford, Robert Hilts, 61, of Hancock, were not hurt.

A spokeswoman at the Ellsworth hospital said all three men who had been in the GMC still were being evaluated late Thursday afternoon but were in stable condition.

Roy said the GMC truck was demolished. He said he did not yet have dollar damage estimates for the fuel truck or the Ford. Oil and other fluids spilled into the roadway after the collision but no heating oil leaked from the Fraser Fuels truck, the trooper said.

Traffic was shifted toward the north side of the road for about an hour while emergency crews tended to the injured men, towed away the damaged vehicles and cleaned up the debris. Objects such as headlight assemblies, a plastic gas can and pieces of bumpers littered the eastbound lane after the accident.

Roy said the accident happened in front of him, within eyesight of his cruiser, as he was driving down Route 1, which enabled him to get to the scene of the accident quickly. He was assisted at the scene by members of the Hancock Volunteer Fire Department and County Ambulance.